Small elongated objects, usually referred to as nanowires, nanorods, nanowhiskers, etc. and typically comprising semiconductor materials, have up till now been synthesized using one of the following routes:                liquid phase synthesis, for example by means of colloidal chemistry as exemplified US 2005/0054004 by Alivisatos et al,        epitaxial growth from substrates, with or without catalytic particles as exemplified by the work of Samuelson et al presented in WO 2004/004927 A2 and WO 2007/10781 A1, respectively, or        gas phase synthesis by means of a laser assisted catalytic growth process as exemplified by WO 2004/038767 A2 by Lieber et al.        
The properties of wires obtained using these routes are compared in the following table.
Width/length Scalability/Materialand size Structuralcost of qualitycontrolcomplexityproductionLiquid HIGHTHIN/LOWHIGH/HIGHphaseSHORTMEDIUM controlSubstrate-HIGHALL/ALLHIGHLOW/HIGHbasedHIGH controlLaser MEDIUMTHIN/LOWMEDIUM/assistedLONGMEDIUM/MEDIUM control
Consequently, the choice of synthesis route is a compromise between different wire properties and cost of production. For example substrate-based synthesis provides advantageous wire properties but since wires are formed in batches the scalability of the process, and thus the production cost and through-put, are limited.